Thursday, 31 July 2025

Indonesia trade

Tom McINTOSH (Eastern Victoria) (18:08): (1792) I would like to use my adjournment to raise the importance of Victoria’s relationship with Indonesia. Indonesia has become one of Victoria’s main export destinations. It is currently Victoria’s sixth-largest goods export market, with Victorian exports to Indonesia totalling $1.1 billion and two-way trade reaching $2.8 billion. Indonesia is the fifth-largest export market for food and fibre from Victoria, valued at $987 million, and Victoria is Australia’s second-largest exporter of food and fibre to Indonesia, with 24 per cent of the national total. Australia is the number one destination for Indonesian university students worldwide. They are coming here, and the number one state for them is Victoria. The bond that we have through Indonesian students coming to Victorian universities is incredibly strong. We have a memorandum of understanding between the Victorian government and the government of Yogyakarta special region, and we have got a letter of intent between the Victorian government and the provincial government of West Java.

I recently went on a parliamentary delegation during the break to Indonesia, and we were able to visit Jakarta and Bandung. We were able to visit Deakin University’s partnership with Lancaster University, which is establishing a uni in Bandung. It is a great opportunity that is thoroughly supported by locals to get an education that is recognised in both the UK and Australia, with the opportunity to do semesters here in Victoria or in the UK and then go on to do masters. Monash University have also set up in Jakarta. We established the Parliamentary Friends of Indonesia at the start of this year. Since doing that, having had the trip, the relationship has been fantastic – growing and growing. We had a national minister for agriculture in Parliament during the week with a big, big delegation of their national MPs. We have a delegation coming out for the big chambers of commerce meeting at the end of September. I think there are just such big opportunities for us, where we respect and we learn from each other and we work together to grow trade between our two nations.

As I said, there is $1 billion of agricultural export from Australia to Indonesia – $300 million of cereal, about $280 million of beef and then about $230 million of dairy product. They are our biggest neighbour – 250 million. They are an emerging economy tipped to be one of the top five economies in the world. To everyone who hosted us while we were in Jakarta and Bandung: thank you so much. To the delegation that came this week and to the delegations that will come in the future: we welcome you and welcome the collaboration between Indonesia and Victoria.